W.H. mum on 'impeach' fundraising

White House press secretary Josh Earnest on Tuesday called repeatedly for Republicans to stop talking about impeaching President Barack Obama — but said he wouldn’t do the same for Democrats who’ve been fundraising off it nonstop in recent days.

“It is up to Democrats to make their own decisions,” Earnest said at the White House daily briefing. “I will leave it to Dem strategists who have a much better sense than I do about the best way to raise money for their campaign committees.”

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Earlier in the briefing, Earnest read through a list of Republican members of Congress who have spoken supportively of impeachment: Reps. Steve King of Iowa, Ted Yoho of Florida, Lou Barletta of Pennsylvania, Blake Farenthold of Texas, Kerry Bentivolio of Michigan and Steve Stockman of Texas, whom Earnest sarcastically referred to as “the distinguished.”

Earnest said that if House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) truly believes that the impeachment talk is a “scam” by Democrats just to raise money, “then I suspect that there may be members of the Republican conference that didn’t receive the memo.”

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee and the House Majority PAC sent a barrage of fundraising emails off of impeachment since Friday, when White House senior adviser Dan Pfeiffer floated the topic unprompted at a Christian Science Monitor breakfast with reporters and Earnest later discussed the topic further from the White House podium.

Earnest said those comments were not coordinated.

But he said that the mood expressed in those emails — one DCCC email said they were “freaking out” over the impeachment discussion — was not shared in the White House. The White House’s mood was more “very disappointed” that Republicans were focused on impeachment and the proposed lawsuit than addressing the border crisis and middle-class priorities in what’s supposed to be the last week of session before Congress’ summer recess.

Earnest called impeachment part of just “political, partisan attacks” that aren’t the president’s focus.